Editing Last universal common ancestor (section)

== Age ==

{{further|Abiogenesis}}

Studies from 2000 to 2018 have suggested an increasingly ancient time for the LUCA. In 2000, estimates of the LUCA's age ranged from 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago in the [[Paleoarchean]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Doolittle |first=W. F. |date=February 2000 |title=Uprooting the tree of life |journal=[[Scientific American]] |volume=282 |issue=2 |pages=90–95 |bibcode=2000SciAm.282b..90D |pmid=10710791 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0200-90|jstor=26058605 }}</ref> a few hundred million years before the [[Earliest known life forms|earliest fossil evidence of life]], for which candidates range in age from 3.48 to 4.28 billion years ago.<ref name="AST-20131108">{{cite journal |last1=Noffke |first1=N. |author1-link=Nora Noffke |last2=Christian |first2=D. |last3=Wacey |first3=D. |last4=Hazen |first4=R. M. |date=December 2013 |title=Microbially induced sedimentary structures recording an ancient ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia |journal=Astrobiology |volume=13 |issue=12 |pages=1103–1124 |bibcode=2013AsBio..13.1103N |pmc=3870916 |pmid=24205812 |doi=10.1089/ast.2013.1030}}</ref><ref name="NG-20131208">{{cite journal |last1=Ohtomo |first1=Yoko |last2=Kakegawa |first2=Takeshi |last3=Ishida |first3=Akizumi |last4=Nagase |first4=Toshiro |last5=Rosing |first5=Minik T. |year=2013 |title=Evidence for biogenic graphite in early Archaean Isua metasedimentary rocks |journal=Nature Geoscience |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=25–28 |bibcode=2014NatGe...7...25O |doi=10.1038/ngeo2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hassenkam |first1=T. |last2=Andersson |first2=M. P. |last3=Dalby |first3=K. N. |last4=Mackenzie |first4=D. M. A. |last5=Rosing |first5=M. T. |display-authors=3 |s2cid=205257931 |year=2017 |title=Elements of Eoarchean life trapped in mineral inclusions |journal=Nature |volume=548 |issue=7665 |pages=78–81 |bibcode=2017Natur.548...78H |pmid=28738409 |doi=10.1038/nature23261}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Elizabeth A. |last2=Boehnke |first2=Patrick |last3=Harrison |first3=T. Mark |last4=Mao |first4=Wendy L. |author-link4=Wendy Mao |date=24 November 2015 |title=Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1&nbsp;billion-year-old zircon |journal=PNAS |volume=112 |issue=47 |pages=14518–14521 |bibcode=2015PNAS..11214518B |doi=10.1073/pnas.1517557112 |pmc=4664351 |pmid=26483481|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dodd |first1=Matthew S. |last2=Papineau |first2=Dominic |last3=Grenne |first3=Tor |author4=Slack, John F. |author5=Rittner, Martin |author6=Pirajno, Franco |author7=O'Neil, Jonathan |author8=Little, Crispin T. S. |display-authors=3 |s2cid=2420384 |date=2 March 2017 |title=Evidence for early life in Earth's oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates |journal=Nature |volume=543 |issue=7643 |pages=60–64 |bibcode=2017Natur.543...60D |doi=10.1038/nature21377 |pmid=28252057 |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/1/ppnature21377_Dodd_for%20Symplectic.pdf |access-date=25 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723232142/http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/1/ppnature21377_Dodd_for%20Symplectic.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2018 |url-status=live|doi-access=free }}</ref> This placed the origin of the first forms of life shortly after the [[Late Heavy Bombardment]] which was thought to have repeatedly sterilized Earth's surface. However, a 2018 study by Holly Betts and colleagues applied a [[molecular clock]] model to the genomic and fossil record (102 species, 29 common protein-coding genes, mostly ribosomal), concluding that LUCA preceded the Late Heavy Bombardment (making the LUCA over 3.9 billion years ago).<ref name="Betts Puttick Clark 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Betts |first1=Holly C. |last2=Puttick |first2=Mark N. |last3=Clark |first3=James W. |last4=Williams |first4=Tom A. |last5=Donoghue |first5=Philip C. J. |last6=Pisani |first6=Davide |title=Integrated genomic and fossil evidence illuminates life's early evolution and eukaryote origin |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |year=2018 |volume=2 |issue=10 |pages=1556–1562 |doi=10.1038/s41559-018-0644-x |pmid=30127539 |pmc=6152910|bibcode=2018NatEE...2.1556B }}</ref> A 2022 study suggested an age of around 3.6-4.2 billion years for the LUCA.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moody |first1=Edmund RR |last2=Mahendrarajah |first2=Tara A. |last3=Dombrowski |first3=Nina |last4=Clark |first4=James W. |last5=Petitjean |first5=Celine |last6=Offre |first6=Pierre |last7=Szöllősi |first7=Gergely J. |last8=Spang |first8=Anja |last9=Williams |first9=Tom A. |date=2022-02-22 |title=An estimate of the deepest branches of the tree of life from ancient vertically evolving genes |journal=eLife |volume=11 |doi=10.7554/eLife.66695 |doi-access=free |issn=2050-084X |pmc=8890751 |pmid=35190025}}</ref> A 2024 study suggested that the LUCA lived around 4.2 billion years ago (with a confidence interval of 4.09–4.33 billion years ago).<ref name="Moody et al 2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Moody |first1=Edmund R. R. |last2=Álvarez-Carretero |first2=Sandra |last3=Mahendrarajah |first3=Tara A. |last4=Clark |first4=James W. |last5=Betts |first5=Holly C. |last6=Dombrowski |first6=Nina |last7=Szánthó |first7=Lénárd L. |last8=Boyle |first8=Richard A. |last9=Daines |first9=Stuart |last10=Chen |first10=Xi |last11=Lane |first11=Nick |author11-link=Nick Lane |last12=Yang |first12=Ziheng |last13=Shields |first13=Graham A. |last14=Szöllősi |first14=Gergely J. |last15=Spang |first15=Anja |last16=Pisani |first16=Davide |last17=Williams |first17=Tom A. |last18=Lenton |first18=Timothy M. |last19=Donoghue |first19=Philip C. J. |date=12 July 2024 |title=The nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=1654–1666 |doi=10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1 |doi-access=free |pmid=38997462 |pmc=11383801 |bibcode=2024NatEE...8.1654M }}</ref>